In the Open Graves, Open Minds Project, we unearthed depictions of the vampire and the undead in literature, art, and other media, before embracing shapeshifters and other supernatural beings and their worlds. OGOM opens up questions concerning genre, gender, hybridity, cultural change, and other realms. The Project extends to all narratives of the fantastic, the folkloric, the fabulous, and the magical.

A Compendium of Monsters

Over the Halloween period, the Wellcome Collection have put together an online compendium of monsters including the witch, zombie, werewolf, vampire and ghost. Though it’s quite tongue-in-cheek, I always think it is interesting to note what constitutes the stereotype of each monster in contemporary popular culture. There are also plenty of history and textual examples in these descriptions. There something quite taxonomic about the way this information has been presented which brings to mind interesting questions regarding the nature of knowledge and how we define the monstrous, aberrant and abject.